Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
August 12, 2003, Vol. 03-70

RESOURCE CENTER TO ADDRESS DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMA (ADS CENTER) WILL HOLD TELECONFERENCE AND INTERNET TRAINING ON STIGMA IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN, LATINO, AND ASIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

TO REGISTER, ALL EMAIL RESPONSES MUST GO TO chtemp@mhasp.org OR CALL Kevin Karg at 800-688-4226, Ext. 290.

Dear Colleague:

You are invited to participate in a virtual training session via the Internet and the telephone on the topic of concrete ways to address the discrimination and stigma associated with mental illness in African-American, Latino, and Asian-American communities.

In his announcement of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, President Bush identified stigma as one of three obstacles preventing Americans with mental illnesses from getting the excellent care they deserve; and the recently released final report of the Commission recommended "a national campaign to reduce the stigma of seeking care." The Commission's report specifically suggested education campaigns targeting "racial and ethnic minority groups who may hesitate to seek treatment in the current system, and people whose primary language is not English," as well as rural Americans.

http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/Finalreport/FullReport.htm

Such targeted campaigns are crucial, experts say, because people who are already experiencing racial and ethnic discrimination may be particularly cautious about putting themselves on the receiving end of the discrimination and stigma associated with mental illnesses. As former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher has said, "If you are already a victim of stigmatization, you don't want to go out and announce you have a mental [problem] if you think it is going to be held against you."

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/35/1728_87643

This session is sponsored by the Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center), a project of the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The session is free to participants.

Date: August 20, 2003
Time: 3:30 p.m. -- 5 p.m. (Eastern Time)

The training will offer the expertise of D.J. Ida, Ph.D., Executive Director, National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association; Henry Acosta, M.A., M.S.W., L.S.W., Project Director, Changing Minds, Advancing Mental Health for Hispanics, New Jersey Mental Health Institute; and Laurene Finley, Ph.D., Multicultural Training and Research Institute, Temple University, and will include a question-and-answer session. Participants will learn culturally appropriate methods to address discrimination and stigma. The strategies are helpful for mental health advocacy organizations, consumer advocates and mental health service providers that want to eliminate the discrimination and stigma associated with mental illness in culturally diverse communities.

The presentation will take place during the first hour, to be followed by a 30-minute period of discussion with the presenters.

To register for this teleconference, please reply via e-mail to this message, stating that you want to participate. For more information, please call Kevin Karg at 800-688-4226, Ext. 290.

If you can access the Internet and the telephone at the same time, you will be able to follow the PowerPoint slides that will accompany the telephone presentation on the Internet. You do not need PowerPoint software on your computer to view the presentation on-line. However, if you would like to participate by phone only, please notify us in your response e-mail, and a hard copy of the PowerPoint presentation will be sent to you before the call so that you can follow along.

All participants will receive a confirmation e-mail and agenda shortly after responding to this invitation. That e-mail will include log-in instructions for the call.

Reminder: Please let us know if you would like to participate by phone only, and materials will be sent in advance of the call.

In addition, please let us know if you will be calling from outside the Continental United States, as we will need to make special arrangements for your participation.